1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the telephone art and more specifically to the use of automatic phone answering equipments operable by means of preset codes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The automatic phone answering equipment is a well known device in the phone art. However, known machines are all designed to automatically respond to any call being received by the phone line to which they are connected. The phone subscriber may or may not connect the machine to the phone line. But when he is present at the place and has the machine connected to the phone line, he can not know whether a call is being received or if the calling party is "desirable" or not. Every call shall be attended automatically by the machine. And if the machine is disconnected, then all calls shall activate the ringing bell of his phone set. Thus, it would be highly desirable to have a system through which it might be possible to know whether the calling party is desirable or not. However, if the called party is willing to attend the call, he might be able to do it and, if otherwise desired, then the automatic phone answering equipment would be automatically connected to the phone line. The same action would take place if he does not attend the call for being absent.